Whincup: Ipswich sixth keeps me in touch.

TeamVodafone's Jamie Whincup had to settle for sixth overall at Queensland Raceway over the weekend, the seventh round in the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Whincup, who finished ninth in race 1 on Saturday, climbed up six spots to finish third in race 2, but a mistake early on in the final race left him sixth, just ahead of his team-mate Craig Lowndes.

"After our positive result this morning I was really looking forward to race 3," Whincup reflected. "The car showed real promise in overtaking and I thought I would be able to challenge the leading cars.

"I made a silly mistake on lap 4 though, which slid me back to seventh. Then after my pitstop I never really had the opportunity to challenge anybody properly. We have still gained 210 points however and that keeps me within striking distance of the Mark [Winterbottom] and Garth [Tander - who are in front of me in the V8 Supercar Championship standings in first and second]."

Craig Lowndes meanwhile finished twelfth overall, after engine problems hindered his challenge in race 1 and left him 28th overall.

He charged back to gain 16 places in race 2 though, a tremendous result given he started from the back row of the grid and was spun around on lap 3. He then finished seventh in race 3.

"I really had fun out there in the first race today," added Lowndes. "In some ways it reminded me of my go-karting days.

"I had an awesome start in the final race, jumping four places which set me up well for a good result. Whilst I did not have great straight line speed we did recover from the engine misfire of yesterday and I hope I have now put all my bad luck behind me."